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Breakfast Topic: Worgen and Goblin dances
Reader Andy sent us a good topic to talk about this morning: dances for the new Cataclysm races. Every time we've sat down to play the new expansion, we've punched in the /dance and /silly emotes, and we haven't seen a single thing implemented for Worgen or Goblin males or females, so as far as we know, it's completely up in the air on what dances they'll choose for each one. You have to think that Blizzard has some idea already (or maybe they'll just be included in those long awaited dance studios), but we haven't seen it, so what do you think?Andy says Goblin males should go for a West Side Story-style classic number, while Worgen should definitely do Thriller. For some reason, I see Goblins breakdancing, but I have no idea what the Worgen might be doing. If it's something befitting their starting area, I have to think something boring like ballroom. But they may actually have different dances for their human and wolf forms (at least you'd hope so -- surely they'd be able to do more in Worgen form than in normal human form, right?). What do you think? World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
Breakfast Topic: I think this combat just might be mortal
I'm still running AV.Before you alert my local mental health professional (I saw him this weekend, actually, he was pretty jazzed about a Wintergrasp string of wins he'd pulled off this week) let me explain: I like AV because I like the total mass chaos potential. Sure, a lot of times we end up with both Horde and Alliance zerging to their objectives and very little PvP, but that's not what I enjoy. What I enjoy is sitting in a tower with a buddy and waiting for the enemy and then seeing them come running in the door, six against two, and doing my level best to Bladestorm their faces off before they manage to cap the bloody thing back. Or going prot and becoming the most annoying man alive, zipping around with Warbringer and popping Shockwave in the middle of a pack before throwing every defensive cooldown I have up to annoy them even more.I enjoy Flame Shocking a DK from behind just as he's about to take Dun Baldar North back from us. Orcs just look cool shocking people.
Breakfast Topic: Great expectations
So as BlizzCon fades further and further from view in the rear window, I'm getting more and more excited and impatient for news of Cataclysm, so much so that I've sort of forgotten to get excited about Patch 3.3. I want Worgen, and new conflicts, and new lore, and a redesigned old world that offers a massive leap forward in the story as things change forever and the Horde and Alliance finally shrug off all pretense of peace and rush headlong into a war that has really never truly ended. But then I start thinking. The combo I really wanted to play, Worgen Paladin, looks like it won't make it in. It seems like Worgen may not get their own capital city (instead, said city will become a battleground under siege by the Forsaken), which may put a damper on how much their awesome quasi-Victorian scenery and architecture actually features in game. While some zones are getting complete revamps, others are only getting minor tweaks, which makes me fear there may be some zones that still feel out of place and some old lore story lines that still remain unresolved or out of place.
Breakfast Topic: What do you want to see in Icecrown Citadel?
While a lot of us (myself included) have been starving for Cataclysm news lately, it would behoove us to remember that we still have one more patch to go: Patch 3.3, the (hopefully) epic showdown with one of the most iconic figures in Warcraft lore, the Lich King himself. We've actually learned very little about it so far. We got Ghostcrawler admitting there's not 31 bosses, and a few other BlizzCon tidbits, but beyond that, what do we know?The other day, Zarhym at least gave us a small hint or two, saying that the 5-man dungeons would be epic and essential to the overall fight against Arthas, that they would be separate content from the raids, and that neither dungeons nor raids (Thank Elune) would have vehicular or mounted combat (the airship battle will not be a vehicle fight, it seems). Of course, that does give us hope, but doesn't get us to the meat of the dungeon so to speak. So I'm sort of wondering: What do you want or expect to see in Icecrown Citadel, both the raids and the dungeons? Are there certain bosses or boss encounters you want to see? What type of storylines would you think epic enough for the 5 mans? I'm still hoping for the completely ignoble, futile death of Tirion Fordring, but that could just be me.
Breakfast Topic: Violet relief
Some of you might have already gotten your Violet Proto-Drakes, a long, strange trip that spans one full year of playing World of Warcraft. Some persistent and conscientious players have already gotten their Brewmaster title along with the meta-Achievement, and I'm pretty sure it must feel pretty good. There's no more pressure to do all the holiday achievements now, is there? It's time to kick back and chillax.For those of you who've completed the meta-Achievement, how do you feel? Does it feel good to ride around on that 310% mount? Are you among the first on your server to sport that dragonfruit-hued mount? What are you looking forward to in terms of World of Warcraft holidays now, considering you no longer have to chase after achievements? Are you excited for the new holidays and are you psyched to complete those Achievements, too, even though they're not required for the Violet Proto-Drake? Share your thoughts this morning. As for those who haven't gotten theirs, what else do you need to complete the meta?
Breakfast Topic: What race would you change to?
My first end game character was a Tauren Hunter. It was also the first character I created. When I made him, I didn't know much about the races, starting zones, or characterization quirks. The Tauren care for the world around them and hesitance when it comes to the battle. They're a calm and steady race that, while powerful in battle, prefer peaceful methods in their balance with nature and the elements. While that may be nice for a while, I've come to enjoy the mysticism and voodoo of the Trolls. From putting heads in cauldrons to get dead men to speak their awful truths to offering advice on not cutting off body parts to get them to regenerate bigger, they've offered an interesting and sick sense of humor that I enjoy. Also, the crit strike bonus to bows wouldn't be all that shabby either.With the race changes announced and apparently on the horizon (aka: 'soon'), as well as the race/class combinations coming in Cataclysm, what race would you change to if you had the opportunity? Voting after the break.
Breakfast Topic: What do you want from your faction leader?
Well, one thing I learned yesterday: people have some very strong opinions on what they expect from their faction's leader. Since there are rumors of a shakeup on that score, it seems like a good time to ask you, the readers, exactly what you want from your faction leaders come Cataclysm.For myself, I've never been really all that worried about the War between Horde and Alliance and its role in World of Warcraft. Possibly because I came to the MMO without the influence of the RTS series compared to some folks, I just accepted that Horde and Alliance didn't like each other and that was effectively that. The only time it really impacted on me before the introduction of Battlegrounds was in trying to level in Southshore while a Horde Druid kept coming into town and killing all the quest givers. But for some players, it's clear that the animosity between factions is very real, very personal and is one of the things that keeps them playing. They really hate the filthy Alliance/Horde and want to rally behind a leader who'll actually lead them in combat with their chosen enemies. Still other players see the conflict between the two factions as a dangerous distraction (or just plain silly) as threats like the Burning Legion, the Scourge, and now Deathwing demanded a united front.So what about you, gentle and not so gentle readers? Who do you see as your faction's natural leader, and what role should he or she play in the ongoing story of WoW? Do you want to crush, mangle, and maim or are you more focused on reaching rapprochement? And who do you think should be the overall top dogs of the Horde and Alliance? Does the Alliance really need a 'Warchief' of its own and who should it be, or is it time for the Horde to seek diversity in government? Only time will tell what happens in Cataclysm, but you can speculate all you want right here.
A critical examination of Garrosh Hellscream
I hate to admit it, but he's starting to grow on me. Yes, he's an arrogant, petulant, mercurial and often ridiculously bellicose orc who has no direct reason for his ridiculous hatred of humans, but he's also out there doing things, which is more than certain other orc heroes can claim. Even if some people think a basic campfire could lead the Horde better than he could. It's possible that the fact everyone hates him made me want to give him another look, I'm weird that way.Yes, I'm talking about Garrosh Hellscream. Everyone's favorite "Oh I hate that guy" guy. And to be frank from the first time my Tauren Warrior stepped off of his kodo in front of the fire in Garadar I've kind of disliked him. He was whiny, dismissive, and petulant, (yes, I said it twice, you're lucky I didn't just type it 3000 times) and frankly even after I went through one of the longest (in terms of what it had me do, anyway) quest chains in BC to finally, finally get Thrall to come out and slap some sense into the kid (which he did with a kicking lightshow - remember Laser Floyd? Yeah, even Laser Floyd didn't have demon lords) I didn't like the new, reinvigorated Garrosh any more than I liked him before. Granted, I didn't expect to ever see him again.
Breakfast Topic: The gap
It's no secret that I have Horde and Alliance Warriors at 80. I took a long break from the Horde to raid aggressively on my Alliance Warrior as part of my endless waffling over Horde vs. Alliance. Lately, however, the rumors about Cataclysm and what's going to happen to Horde leadership have, paradoxically perhaps, made me suit up again as the Tauren and play the Horde side again. (I'm weird that way.) One of the results of that is to remind me that there's a big difference between a Ulduar/TotC 25 geared prot warrior and one barely in Naxx 10 gear. I have been chain running TotC 5/Heroic as much as possible to try and catch up and frankly, wow, the difference in every aspect of play is astonishing. You forget just how much of a difference it all makes, until you suddenly find yourself effectively back in time on a character with the stats you used to have when things were hard. Going from a 35k health pool to a 27k one (up to 30 now, thanks to TotC) was a huge wake up call that made me adjust my pulling strategies, use of my cooldowns, and even how I go about generating threat. As all my stats improve I'm finding myself lowering my foot to the floorboard, so to speak, but in a way I think it's a good thing to be reminded every now and again that you can't just tell people starting out in blues and greens to do what you do in your full raid epics. It's an experience you can have in other ways, of course: taking your alt rogue to DPS a heroic and being shocked at how much lower his DPS is than your DK main, for instance. So I posit to you, gentle readers, how have you found yourself minding the gap?
Breakfast Topic: Happy Pirates' Day, ye landlubbers!
Yaaaaaar maties, it be me again, Cap'n Phineas Blackbeard (ye may remember my old guide to the most piratical o' quests), and I be back again, today, September the 19th, because today, ye scurvy dogs, be Pirates' Day! My old flame Dread Captain DeMeza will be hanging out in Booty Bay and causin' all kinds of trouble under the nose of old Baron Revilgaz, so ye can head down to the southern shores, listen to some shantys with those old swashbucklers, and maybe even win some loot. If ye like, ye can even go and visit DeMeza with the scallywags from this here WoW.com site (though between you and me, some of them smell like the inside of a whale's belly, especially that landlubber Schramm). And of course, all of ye yellow-bellied scallywags should spend the whole day talking like a pirate as best ye can, and maybe even wear an eyepatch. Y'know, for the nightvision.And just in case ye don't get enough grog today -- HA! Get it? "Enough grog"? A good pirate knows ye can never have enough grog! -- don't forget that Brewfest starts tomorrow. Stay tuned to this here vessel for more information about how ye can get all of the achievements and titles and dragons and treasure chests ye desire. Have a great Pirates' Day, and then get back to swabbing the poop deck, ye peg-legged, pox-faced mutinous cur! Dead men tell no tales! Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!%Gallery-32280%
Breakfast Topic: I miss trash
Before you have me committed, I'll say right now that I was expecting to be thrilled with the lack of trash in the new Coliseum raids. Who wouldn't be? No more endless waves of, say, Death Knights or Spectres or that horrible two-pull on the way to killing Auriaya or what have you. And you know what? I don't miss that stuff. I don't miss any of the trash we've yet seen in Wrath of the Lich King.In fact, what the trashless boss gauntlet that is Trial of the Crusader/Grand Crusader has done for me is to show me that I've been missing trash, real trash, since after we moved out of Mount Hyjal, and even then it was in slow decline. No, I hate to admit it, but in a blazing moment of honest to Murgatroyd old fogeyism, I came to realize that what I miss was the brutal, punishing trash pulls in Blackwing Lair. Blackwing Spellbinders were harder to deal with than some of the bosses that followed them! You could wipe multiple times before you even had the room cleared enough to pull a drake!Yeah, it sounds ridiculous that I'm nostalgic for that. And to be honest, it's a nostalgia tinged with a certain amount of relief that I don't have to go clear it again any time soon (and if I did, well, I'm level 80 now). But what I miss, and what I feel like we've been moving away from since Hyjal (which may have taken trash pulls to a height so ridiculous that the pendulum had to swing back this way) is trash with personality. Trash that sets the story, that makes you really feel like you're actually raiding an ancient lair of evil. That being said, I'm glad TotC is trashless. Just please, let Icecrown bring back trash that counts.How about you? Never want to see it again? Looking forward to its return? Where do you stand on trash?
Breakfast Topic: Feats of Fail
The other night, I dinged while dead. I was waiting to be resurrected by the Spirit Healer in the cave of Alterac Valley and leveled. This is happening a lot now that Battlegrounds give experience, so I'm sure many of you have done the same.I am not normally a Dinger in guildchat -- that's just so EQ -- but this time, I had to announce the dubious honor of dinging while dead. A guildie suggested that Blizzard implement Achievements specifically to commemorate events like this: Feats of Fail. The Achievement for leveling while dead could be called "Better Late than Never". (See what I did there?)I would love to see this implemented and there would be so many I could easily get, like an Achievement for dying in the Undercity Elevators X number of times. (It's a Doozie!) I'd also easily earn one for how often I've shape changed on my druid in a small space and gotten stuck. (Time to Change Classes.) The Spousal Unit has accidentally drowned so frequently, he deserves a "Not a Witch" Achievement.What Feats of Fail would you earn?
Breakfast Topic: The one-of-every-class club
A friend of mine just dinged 80 again the other day, and it put him into a community that we joked about: the "one-of-every-class" club. Like a few of our readers (including William B, who emailed us a while back), he now has ten 80s, one of every single class in the game. It's not something I'd ever do, or ever want to do, but certainly there are probably quite a few people out there who've gone all the way to the highest level with every single class.As Turpster would say, it definitely gives you a nice overview of how all the classes work and what their strengths and issues are. And of course it'd be handy to run instances with -- you can roll into endgame instances playing whatever role you want or your guild needs to have.
Breakfast Topic: I hate
The interesting thing about World of Warcraft for me is that it can create such feelings of loyalty, solidarity, faction pride, and sometimes, raw, visceral, demonic hatred welling up from within. As an example, as an old school warrior player, I despise the Cyclonian with every fiber of my being. Mind you, I loved the quest chain, it felt epic and I kept the sword forever and a day (might even still have it somewhere in that mess of a bank) but the mob? Hate hate hate hate hate hate hate. I still stop whatever I'm doing and ride down to see if any warriors are trying to solo him whenever I'm anywhere near Southshore or Chillwind Point. And if they are, they suddenly find themselves assisted by a level 80 warrior who wishes nothing more on earth than to kill that windbag!Seriously, kudos to Blizzard, you managed to make me hate a mass of pixels more than some people I've had reason to dislike over the years. If sentient whirlwinds ever manifest and begin speaking to us, they'd best do so very far away from me.So this fine morning I ask you: what do you hate?
Breakfast Topic: Shirt of choice
Out of all of the things we've broken down and discussed on this site, I don't think we've ever really dug into this one: what's your character's shirt of choice? The shirt slot on your character screen is really the last customization-only slot we've got left, ever since the tabards were allotted to earning reputation. So today's discussion topic is: what shirt do you have in there?Unfortunately, the Shirt of Uber is only a PTR item, so no one is wearing it on the live realms, or else obviously that's what we'd all be wearing. The Epic Purple Shirt is probably a favorite since earlier this year, if you've been lucky enough to get the TCG code. I'd bet the Swashbuckler's Shirts are popular, and the Red Linen Shirt has always been one of my favorites. I'm sure the Tuxedo Shirt has its share of fans as well.So what are you wearing underneath that armor? It'd be cool if Blizzard actually beefed up our choices there a bit -- maybe they could put stripes on the sleeve to show rank, or have some special color or model for people who have met certain achievements (and come on, a Three Worgen Moon shirt? I'd wear that). Then again, maybe it's better that the shirts stay pretty low key -- every other item on our character screen has gotten a purpose lately, so maybe we're better off wearing whatever shirt we want.
Breakfast Topic: Your favorite lines of spoken dialogue
While video game voice acting never really seems to draw the amazing big names, it's definitely steadily improving from the old day when it was spare members of the coding team and a couple people pulled off from the street or something. WoW seems to combine the best of both worlds here, in that Warcraft's Voice acting seems to run the gamut from awesome to pretty decent to painfully over-hammy. Still, to its credit, it's produced a whole lot of iconic lines, from the first "zug zug" to "You are not prepared" and beyond. With so many iconic phrases, both breath taking and amusing, I'm interested to know what lines of dialogue stick with you and why. Is it the turn of phrase? The delivery? The context in which the line is spoken that adds to the drama or humor?For me, it's all about Eadric the Pure. Pretty much every line of dialogue he gets in the Trial of the Crusader 5-man is amazing. Well acted, well scripted, with just the right balance between pomposity, noble righteousness and a sort of bemused sense of humor and enjoyment about the whole concept of the Argent Tournament. If I had to pick one line, it would be his final one: "I yield! I submit! Excellent work! May I run away now?"Yes, you may Eadric. But please, come back again soon. You're awesome.
Breakfast Topic: Which NPCs cause a double take?
You have to hand it to Blizzard. They have a way with pop culture references and inside jokes. One of the methods that developers use to express their sense of humour is in their naming of the various NPCs in the game. For instance, the two Triumphant Armor vendors located outside Crusader's Coliseum. Champion Isimode (which I'm going to pronounce as "easy mode") is the vendor for the Alliance players, while Champion Faesrol (or "face roll") is the vendor for Horde players. Harrison Jones guided us through the introductory parts of Zul'Aman (or at least, tried to). Unlike the real Indiana Jones, Harrison didn't didn't last very long after your raid hit the gong. He'd end up resurfacing again in an escort quest in Grizzly Hills (aptly named Dun-da-Dun-tah!). Firefly loves might have missed this NPC over in Zangarmarsh. The engineering Grandmaster K. Lee Smallfry is a nod to Kaylee Frye who is the engineer on the television series. Last but not least, a few Goblin NPCs are named after a few prominent Star Trek characters. In Booty Bay, there's a goblin named Scooty (Scotty)! The first time I ran Gnomeregan as a Horde player, I came through here and did a double take on the name. You could imagine my pleasant surprise when I activated the transporter only to emerge on the other side to be greeted by Sprock (Spock). Which NPCs have you run across that have caused you to look twice?
Breakfast topic: Has Trial of the Grand Crusader been a reasonable challenge?
My raiding guild suffered from the Anub'Arak soft reset issue where we were unable to reach the floor where the oversized bug was. We wanted to clear him out on normal mode before we switched over to the harder difficulty. But since the floor was intact, we couldn't! (Note: This has since been fixed). Because of this, we decided to toggle on Heroic mode for Trial of the Crusader on 25 just to get a feel for it. Some guilds believe that the Coliseum, even on heroic, is too easy. So I went in wondering what the fuss was all about. I wanted to know how easy the heroic setting would be. But that's when I faced the reality check. Remember, not everyone is in a top 100 guild. We burned through about 10 attempts that night just working on the first encounter alone. That experience helped to ground us and we realized what we needed to do to get through that mountain. In the end, we weren't able to even get past Gormok. We came to the conclusion that we were definitely going to need to coordinate healing and tanking cooldowns to break past the final minute of the first boss. Nonetheless, it was fairly humbling. We'll have to go in next time much more carefully and with a more detailed game plan in mind. It's been several days since Trial of the Grand Crusader has been accessible. Do you feel it has just the right amount of challenge for your raid group? Have you found it too easy or too difficult?
Breakfast Topic: Your Cataclysm Bucket List
The Times, they are a-changin'. Cataclysm promises to bring massive amounts of change to Azeroth, reorganizing zones, streamlining quests, and the like. There's a good chance that a lot of the old quests and reputation grinds we know and love will be gone forever, or twisted so much that we hardly recognize them. With that in mind, even while their exact fate is up in the air, a lot of old achievements and titles seem much more urgent.A lot of WoW bloggers, as a result, have been posting their bucket lists, a list of things they want to do in the Old World before the Cataclsym changes it for good, be it grabbing the Loremaster title or even leveling a character of the other faction just to see how their quests differ. For my own part, I've been inspired to start a bucket list myself. It's pretty simple, so far. The major thing is to finally finish getting my Druid Guardian of Cenarius. I'm also thinking my Death Knight could use Loremaster or Seeker. I'll probably also try to make sure my Death Knight gets all the old world raid bosses down, and I wouldn't mind getting an old school Ashkandi for him for fashion purposes. Sure, we still have Patch 3.3 before Cataclysm, so it's not like we have to be in a big rush, but if you're after a title like Loremaster before Cataclysm, it may be a good idea to start now. What do you want to do or see in the old world before the curtain falls? What's your Cataclysm bucket list? World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
Breakfast Topic: To-do
I love the to-do list that Siha posted on Banana Shoulders the other day -- I don't know if it's just the kind of people we are or if it says something about our play styles, but I too usually have an ongoing list of things I plan to do in the game, and pretty much everything I end up doing in game (from running reputation grinds to leveling up alts) follows the list.For instance, ever since Burning Crusade came out, the number one item on my to-do list was picking up a Netherwing Drake, and pretty much everything I did after that goal was set (switching over to my Hunter so I could solo the dailies more easily, doing only those quests in game every day, and leveling my professions up just to make the most out of doing them) was targeted at getting that Drake, which made it much sweeter when I finally did. In Northrend, my two main goals going in were to pick up the Kalu'ak fishing pole and to get the Green Proto-drake, and while the Oracles haven't been very giving with the Cracked Eggs so far, I have at least ground out the reps needed for those. My latest goals are to get the mounted Squire (I'm well on my way to the needed Seals) and to finally get a high-level Engineer (so I'm leveling up my Paladin, with the added bonus of having an endgame tank and/or healer whenever I want).And though this gets a little hokey, I'll actually say that aiming at and meeting my goals in game has actually helped me think about goals in real life the same way. We don't have anything so obviously as questgivers in real life, but setting a goal in game and following it through to completion can help you envision a real life goal as well, and follow that out until you finally reach it. There's so much to do in this game that I think it's very helpful to determine exactly what you want to do as you play. So what's on your to-do list?
